You can take the courses that are prerequisites for medical school at almost any college. And there are plenty of medical school students who attend undergrad colleges that do not have medical schools affiliated with the undergrad school. This is not a necessary ingredient for acceptance to medical school.
8 Likes
I’m going to crystal clear with honesty, this is the most supportive response I have read so far. Thank you for all the advice your have given me, I really appreciate it. I just really want to have a good future by planning it early. I have watched so many “How To Get Into Harvard” videos and they Aaliyah are basically the same exact thing. 1600 SAT kids who skipped like 2 grades and take college classes. They are just to much. This post, on the other hand, is the exact kind of advice I need. Again, thank you.
1 Like
But maybe also because of society’s standards. I’ll give you that.
“maybe then my parents will acknowledge me lol”. It’s interesting that you say that because there are a lot of similar individuals in your position (good college to please parents, etc…) but again, you must remember that you’re going to ultimately find happiness in doing the things that YOU love to do. Don’t let your parents/societal pressure determine your ultimate path in life 
best of luck!
1 Like
Generally, it’s not the best idea to want premed and a top college (you’re better off at a college where you’re in the top 10-25% and no 8th grader could say “I’ll be better than 75% Harvard students” :p), but since you’re in 8th grade I’ll assume “being a doctor” is shorthand for "a job that’s socially useful, uses science and people skills, and makes decent money, " and since you have 4 years to find out all the jobs that could fill that description, I’ll focus on “getting into a highly selective college”.
First, make sure you have a solid academic background: that means 4 years each of English and History/Social science, Foreign language through level 4 or AP, Math through calculus (precalculus +AP stats if you’re not aiming for STEM), Bio/chem/physics (honors or Physics 1) + 1 or 2 more of those at the AP level, for a total of about 8 APs (big ones for a STEM student would be AP English Lang, 1 AP history, AP Calculus AB or preferably BC, AP Physics1, and either AP Chem or AP Physics C, plus if you can handle those in addition to the previous ones AP Bio, AP foreign language, AP CS P or A.
DO NOT overload: it won’t “impress” colleges – adcoms are more likely to think of an overload as “hubris”.
Your ability to balance school work, sleep, social life/friends, and various activities is more important. (No college wants an “AP robot” for instance).
So, second: explore many activities in the 8th and 9th grade. Do not think of them as “college” application activities but rather as ways for you to figure what you enjoy and could be good at. Once you’ve figured that out, throw yourself at it and try to get a leadership position by junior year. By jr year it’s okay to do fewer activities, more in depth. These can be anything - they don’t have to be school clubs, in fact a combination of school and non school based activities is best (show you are involved in your community as well as in school). Become amazing at 1 or 2 of them.
Third, be a good person. Honest and kind. Someone others want to emulate and that adults respect.
5 Likes
I’m really glad this was helpful for you. Best of luck!
For an alternative perspective on your goal, note that this prominent respondent associated his choice of Harvard with his “greatest regret”:
When you research colleges for real, it will be important for you to know yourself well enough to choose a school at which you will be happy and thrive. This could be Harvard or Stanford, or elsewhere.
2 Likes
At your age, you need to be out riding a skateboard or getting into some kind of mischief 
In all seriousness, it’s too soon to be worried about ivy leagues or medical school.
Here’s my advice about ivy leagues. At some point, applications are so identical, there’s virtually no way to distinguish them from one another. It’s really just a smart kid lottery with ridiculous subjective criteria based on what mood the admissions officer is in. All of it is beyond your control. Far too often, kids fall into the trap of toxic perfectionism trying to get a “competitive edge” for these schools. Sooner or later, it leads to a mental breakdown.
Here’s my advice. Enjoy being a kid. Stay balanced. Keep an open mind about your future. There’s going to be a world of change between now and when you actually go to college. When you’re ready to apply to college, just be yourself. If they reject you, there’s always a college that will love you back. Ivy leagues are grossly overrated. There aren’t enough ivy league graduates in the country for employers or medical schools to even care. America gets along fine without them.
4 Likes
@nburns0110 I don’t believe anyone posted this yet. It is very very good advice. It’s good advice for any and every school, not just MIT. Please check it out:
6 Likes